Arts festival breathes new life into tourism on tranquil Hong Kong island – but not everybody’s a fan of growing commercialisation
- Home to an abandoned Hakka Catholic settlement, Yim Tin Tsai has been reinvented over the past decade
- Month-long exhibition has attracted thousands of visitors to the 300-year-old village
Stepping off the boat on the tranquil island of Yim Tin Tsai, which sits in Hong Kong’s backyard of Sai Kung, retiree Janny Wong Yuet-yee is greeted by a set of colourful wind chimes.
The percussion instrument produces sounds resembling the old bell that used to call villagers in the Hakka Catholic settlement to attend Mass at the island’s chapel.
Just metres away, a wooden sculpture made from trees brought down by Typhoon Mangkhut last year rests at the waterfront, serving as a bench for visitors to enjoy the sea view.
The Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival launched last month has given a new life to the island’s cultural and eco-tourism industry, which has been limited to mainly small-scale guided tours and workshops since it started more than a decade ago.
“Yim Tin Tsai has been deserted for a long time,” says Wong, 62, who last visited the site three years ago for a religious event. “It has become a sweet place full of liveliness.”
The free month-long exhibition of 17 artworks by local artists has drawn more than 10,000 visitors such as Wong to the 300-year-old village, which might have turned into a pile of rubble over time.
